DEVELOPMENT OF A SIMULATED DATA SET FOR THE SEAWIFS MISSION

A realistic simulated data set is essential for mission readiness prep arations and can potentially assist in all phases of ground support fo r a future mission. Such a data set was created for the Sea-viewing Wi de Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS), a global ocean color mission due fo r launch in 1997. This data set incorporates a representation of virtu ally every known aspect of the flight mission. Thus, it provides a hig h fidelity data set for testing most phases of the ground system, incl uding data processing, data transfers, calibration and validation, qua lity control, and mission operations. The data set is constructed for a seven-day period, March 25-31, 1994. Specific features of the data s et: it includes Global Area Coverage (GAC), recorded Local Area Covera ge (LAC), and real-time High Resolution Picture Transmission (HRPT) da ta for the seven-day period; it includes a realistic orbit which is pr opagated using a Brouwer-Lyddane model with drag; the data correspond to a command schedule based on the orbit for this seven-day period; it includes total (at satellite) radiances for ocean, land, clouds, and ice; it utilizes a high-resolution land/sea mask; it includes actual S eaWiFS spectral responses; it includes the actual sensor saturation re sponses; it is formatted according to current onboard data structures; and it includes corresponding telemetry (instrument and spacecraft) d ata. The methods are described and some examples of the output are giv en.